Nesting Mason Bees

Technique: I was sitting in front of my solitary bee house and I noticed that when other bees got close to this Mason bee she would dart out of the Crown Bee guard tube as if to scare them off. The next day I went out to check on her and the tube was full and capped.

Technique:I just sat on the ground in front of my solitary bee house and took this shot as this Mason bee came back with more mud to cap off the reed that she filled with egg chambers. I'm hoping that she'll start working on a new one

Since this is my first post with the Canon 80D: The dynamic range seems better than the 1D MK III that I use to shoot with (with some sources saying that it rivals the 5D MK III), and the ISO noise is really low. If I under expose an image I can push the exposure in post and there just isn't a lot of noise in the photo, and what noise exists is very uniform (easy to remove and preserve detail). The shutter is also a lot quieter than the 70D it replaced, so all totaled it's a pretty good upgrade if you shoot macro. The AF is suppose to be really fast and accurate as well, but I haven't had a chance to test it.

It is nice sometimes just to sit and watch isn't it rather than trying to get photos.I have put a bee house (its got those bamboo tubes in it) by our front door on a very sunny brick wall and hope that some go in there If not, I might move it next year as I do get a lot of mining bees around our garden due to the sandy soil. Will have to wait and see.

Dalantech wrote in post #17963884Make sure there is a source of mud close by -if not then they'll look elsewhere for a nest.

Thanks for the tip John - yes, there is a small rockery very close by and a flower bed within a couple of feet . Another long flower bed close by too. My long rockery had to be removed this time last year for a parking space - some used to nest along that as the soil is very sandy. As the bank was dug out we had to put a sheet along it until the side supports were put in because so many were trying to nest in the exposed sand. So I thought I would add some new housing spaces for them this year lol.

LindaB wrote in post #17963963Thanks for the tip John - yes, there is a small rockery very close by and a flower bed within a couple of feet . Another long flower bed close by too. My long rockery had to be removed this time last year for a parking space - some used to nest along that as the soil is very sandy. As the bank was dug out we had to put a sheet along it until the side supports were put in because so many were trying to nest in the exposed sand. So I thought I would add some new housing spaces for them this year lol.

Linda

Last year the girls capped about a dozen tubes. This year they've completed over twenty with as manny in progress and they'll be active for another three or four weeks

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